Spring in St. John's Wood

This is the view from the window of Knight’s studio at 16 Lanford Place, North London. The painting is infused with the spirit of spring, and brims with attentive detail: leafy gardens, tennis, children playing, people strolling. Primarily a figure painter, Dame Laura Knight painted such everyday subjects with an observant eye. After attending Nottingham School of Art where she met her future husband, Harold Knight (1874-1961), she worked in Cornwall before moving to London. Here she encountered the Bertram Mills Company at Olympia and began the circus painting for which she is famous. Together with portraits, nudes and ballet dancers, these formed her subject matter for the following years. Knight was a War Artist in both World Wars and was one of the first modern women to be elected an Associate of the Royal Academy in 1927. She continued painting up to her death in 1970.